


The Village of Ghosts

by Mitaukano



Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: F/F, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-06-08
Updated: 2013-06-08
Packaged: 2017-12-14 08:58:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,713
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/835069
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mitaukano/pseuds/Mitaukano
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>During a frightening mission, Erza and Lucy are forced to rely on one another when Natsu and Grey are taken hostage.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Village of Ghosts

“Urghh.” That was about as much response as Lucy could muster to the insistent banging on her front door. She rolled over prepared to ignore the knocks, and if she was not mistaken, the muffled voices of Natsu and Happy calling her name. She grabbed her pillow and pulled it over her head effectively silencing the voices, if not the knocking at her door.

“I don’t need the money this month; I don’t need the money this month.” Her mind sleepily repeated over and over. Because, she did not, in fact, need the money for once. She had paid her rent, bought groceries, and even had enough left over to grab a few cute shirts. So as far as she was concerned Natsu and Happy could go and blow up whatever small village, or town, had been unfortunate enough to intrigue the duo into taking up the job.    
Lucy’s mind had just begun to settle into a rather lovely memory, which would surely lead to an even more delightful dream, about reading and falling asleep next to -

“Clunk, clunk.” Her eyes flew open from the unmistakable sound of metal gauntlet striking wooden door. She cringed, knowing that knock would be the only warning she had before her friends barged into her room. Two bare feet had just swung down to the floor, in the doomed attempt to put some clothes on, before her door exploded inward, the lock and hinges now destroyed beyond repair. Well, it looked like she would need that money, seeing as how she would have to replace the smoking wreck that had once been her door. She grumbled, and pulled the blanket around her shoulders. Her cheeks bright red and blonde hair an absolute mess, as she scowled through the now streaming sunlight coming into her room.

“See I told you she was here Natsu!” cried Happy as he began to fly around her room. “I guess she was just tired after all the fun, she, and Loke had yesterday.” The blue cat sniggered into his paws as he looked slyly over at Lucy.   
“Why do you have to make everything so perverted cat?” she glared up at him; her face, she was sure, was completely red.

“Hey Lucy! We just got this great job request,” said Natsu as he held up a flyer covered in horrific ghostly faces and marked with a high Jewel value. “It looks like a piece of cake too, just get rid of some spooks in this old village, which I figured would be right up your alley since you know ghosts are pretty close to Celestial spirits!”  
“They are not!” Lucy snapped, exhausted already by Natsu’s permanently upbeat attitude in the morning. “Ghosts and Celestial Spirits don’t even inhabit the same plane of existence let alone—"

“Ahem,” someone had quietly cleared their throat, and Lucy gulped, Natsu and Happy had made her temporarily forget that she had not, as a matter of fact, gotten up, at least partially, because of the racket the boys had made. However, that she had, in reality, been awakened by the armored woman who now strode into her room with Gray in tow behind her. Erza Scarlet, the queen of the fairies, as she was sometimes known, hoisted a large traveling sack over one shoulder as she strode coolly into the room her eyes flickering over Lucy briefly. The blonde felt her face; if possible, grow redder, as Erza frowned. Great, it seemed that ‘her highness’ was upset, just what she didn’t want, or need, today.

 “Lucy, you should at all times be ready to go out on a mission with us; your lack of preparation is slightly upsetting.”

“Give her a break Erza; it looks like she hasn’t even gotten up for the day.” Said Gray as he walked in, hands in pockets, which meant he was for once, thankfully clothed. With a jolt, Lucy realized she was still sitting in her room surrounded by her friends in her Pajama’s. 

“Look guys, I’m up, if you’d all only leave my room for a moment; I can grab my things, and we can head off in a few minutes.” She had just begun to turn toward her dresser, when a traveling sack full of clothes was pushed into her face. Squawking indignantly into the canvas bag, she made a grab at it an unbalanced herself when whoever was holding it offered no resistance. Her face and shoulder smacked into the floor, and the blanket which had so far preserved what little of Lucy’s dignity remained fell away revealing a set of pajama’s well suited for the hot weather, but not so much for having visitors over at six thirty in the morning. It was frilly around the thighs; the top was a spaghetti-strapped affair and was now askew showing more chest than anyone in this particular situation would like to reveal. 

“Bwahaha!” Natsu was laughing with his pointy teeth easily visible, and eyes streaming as he pointed at Lucy’s now reveled state. “Oh wow, I can see everything!” Happy snorted his eyes streaming as well, his wings no longer visible as he leaned against Natsu laughing hard. Crimson as no longer the color her face sported, no Lucy had moved beyond crimson, and now bordered on purple. She glanced at Gray and Erza; the former at least had the good grace to look humiliated for her as he turned his head away, the latter was another matter. Erza was staring, and frowning, and Lucy was sure if it had been anyone else her foot would have tapped impatiently as well. 

“ _Just great, way to go Lucy! Guess who Erza thinks is an idiot again? This girl_!” She thought as she hurriedly rearranged her clothes, ignoring the pain in her shoulder, and pushed herself up upright. Grumbling to cover her embarrassment, she made her escape to the bathroom with the travel sack in hand and Natsu’s raucous laughter following as she shut the door and begun to change. Living in a state of permanent embarrassment had become normal between the two of them; Lucy would look like an idiot any time she went on a mission or attempted to do any kind of guild work. Erza would invariably have that disappointed or angry expression on her face, exactly like today. Lucy would want to crawl into a hole and die of humiliation, precisely how she felt at this very moment. Damn it why did it always have to be like this? Unbeknownst to most, except Levy and Mirajane, Lucy had a bit of a crush on Erza. “Okay, scratch that.” She thought as she pulled her top on angrily. “ _I have a raging, full blown, attraction to her._ ” Her hastily assembled outfit now complete; she swallowed her disgrace and exited the bathroom.  

Utter and complete chaos greeted her as she reentered her own room. Natsu and Grey had started yet another infamous disagreement, as the yelling increased one area of her room got hotter, and the other began to freeze as the two elementally opposite mages began their clash. Usually Erza stepped in at this point and stopped them before matters escalated, but she seemed to be ignoring them completely her eyes locked on Lucy with an even deeper frown than before.

  
“Um…Erza? Do you think you could help me get them to calm—“

    “Don’t you think those pajamas are a little too revealing?” she sounded positively ice as she spoke, with her slowly narrowing eyes.  Lucy tilted her head, confusion and another flush creeping up her cheeks.

“Wait, what? What do my pajamas have to do with-” the armor-clad woman raised her hand effectively cutting off her reply.

    “I just think you should wear less revealing attire.” 

“How I dress, and what I wear to bed have _nothing_ to do with you Erza.” Lucy said her voice flat with anger. She pushed Ezra’s metal clad hand down, and forced her way past the warrior woman, the arguing duo, and into the street face red, this time from anger. “ _Where does she come off, telling me what to do huh? Who the hell does she think she is?”_

     “Lucy!” sighing and looking skyward she turned to face Erza once again.

“Yes?” she glared at the redhead who managed to look equally frightening and appealing to Lucy all at once.

     “I haven’t finished talking to you yet.” Said Erza stubbornly, her eye's cold as she stared at Lucy. She knew it was coming, the lecture about distracting Natsu and Gray, or the guild in general, and how as one of Fairy Tail’s strongest team members, she had to hold herself to a higher standard than most of the other guild members. Lucy, however, was ready for her.

“Unless we’re going to discuss the mission, I think we’re done talking Erza.” Normally, when Erza was angry, it terrified her, and anyone else with common sense, but when it came to this new-found goal to correct everything she found lacking in the blonde, Lucy refused to take it anymore. “ _Why in the hell do I like her again?_ ” she thought, as she crossed her arms and waited for the other woman to speak. With a sigh, Erza wiped a hand over her face and visibly tried to relax when next she spoke.

    “It’s a village to the east of the Cartol mountain range. They say that for the past month that friends and relatives have gone missing and have reportedly returned nights later as apparitions unable to speak. Natsu was right saying we might need your expertise in this. My personal theory is that this has very little to do with ghosts, and something to do with a leak into the Celestial Realm.” She paused, her brown eyes staring intensely into Lucy’s, all traces of anger now gone.

“A leak into the Celestial Realm can’t happen. You’d need to have a Celestial Wizard opening a gate to cause that, and that always summons a specific spirit.”

   “Correct, unless that particular wizard was using a Void Key.” How did Erza know about void keys? She narrowed her eyes at the older woman. Void keys were unassigned celestial keys that appeared when new celestial spirits decided they wanted to begin taking contracts from the human world. They were rare, and until they were assigned remained blank allowing the user to open temporary portals to the human world and let these spirits arrange contracts. Once a particular key was made the symbol for that spirit appeared on the handle, and the key was registered with the Wizard Council. The keys were considered dangerous if not used in a proper ceremony, and the fact that someone might be using a Void key to attract new celestial spirits….

“How do you know about Void Keys?” her eyes narrowed once more, suspicion creeping into her voice as she moved closer to Erza, arms finally uncrossing. For her part, Erza had the decency to blush before speaking.

   “I’ve been reading up on celestial wizardry lately. It’s a new book Levy gave me the other day.” She seemed to hesitate before she spoke. “I thought it might be something the two of us could read together.” And there it was again. Erza always did this at some point when they’d have an argument; she knew Lucy’s loved books, and what type of books the girl liked to read. Some days she held onto the hope that perhaps this was how Erza flirted. That, however, was a stupid notion, as she’d often seen Erza asking other members of guild over to read as well. Few, other than Lucy or Levy, took her up on those invitations. So Lucy had begun to resign herself to simply be the air headed friend who was good enough read books with, but not good enough to kiss. That’s what really bothered the blonde about these frequent fights the two got into during missions. Erza was great, she really and truly liked her, but it was obvious that she would never see her as anything other than a friend. With a mental snort of derision at herself, Lucy had to admit this was likely due to that fact that when it came to fighting strength, Lucy was the weakest of the lot.  
Sighing one final time, her posture finally slipping into one of relaxation, she closed her eyes briefly to block out the glaring morning sun, and only opening them truly to glance at Erza wistfully.

“Let’s just get to this town and figure out what’s going on. We can talk about, if, and I really really mean IF, I decided to come over and read that book with you later” She turned and found that Natsu and Gray were now in front of the duo, looking slightly embarrassed. Natsu sported a black eye, and Gray had a bruise on his upper arm. Expecting the worst since both boys sported injuries Lucy turned, cringing as she looked back at her house. It remained; however, unscathed, well unless you didn’t count the broken door and lock into that estimate. Really, she was surprised the whole building wasn’t on fire or encased in ice.

“Are you two done talking?” said the pink haired Natsu, his facial expression changing to one that oozed boredom. “I’m ready to go pummel some ghosts!”

“I doubt its ghosts you idiot.” Gray said as he began to walk away, clad only in his boxers now.

“You say that to my face you ice-weirdo!” roared the dragon slayer as he began to charge at Gray, fists blazing with magic fire.

“Another fun trip with the family.” Lucy said, her eye twitching. Erza stepped forward at these words and began to speak to the two wizards on who were once again on the brink of another fist fight.

“I hope you boys are getting along.” Her words were calm, but her gaze was deadly. Natsu and Gray stopped their fight abruptly and wrapped arms around each other in a show of newfound friendliness.

“O-of course not Erza! We’re just playing around, you know how best buddies can be!” Gray’s voice was slightly shaky as the two began a silly dance, faces plastered with large false smiles and laughing, their frightened eyes betraying how they truly felt right now. “Just two good buddies, doing the buddy thing, sparring, joking around and having a great time, cause yep, we are pals!” Happy, chose this moment to come flying out of the house, his own face a bit scared as he looked at Erza.

“Well, if we’re all quite done I think it would be best if we got to the train before it leaves without us.” Erza hitched her bag over her shoulder and began striding purposefully towards the train station. Lucy sighed and began to jog in an effort to keep up with her. Maybe, this would be the trip where she could prove to Erza once and for all that she wasn’t just Fairy Tail’s ditzy tag along blonde.

\--

Three hours later, with the sun pouring in the compartment windows, the train chugging along without a care in the world, and Natsu laying in a pitiful heap from motion sickness once more; Erza Scarlet began to reflect on her rash behavior this morning. Mentally, she was wincing as she thought of how she had overreacted once again to Lucy’s clothing loss. In the past, this had never honestly been an issue. Lucy’s celestial spirits would often bring her sets of new clothes, or the blonde herself would creatively cover herself with whatever was handy. Truthfully, Erza knew exactly why she had over reacted this morning, what she didn’t understand is why she had become such a repeat offender with such behavior. When logically, she should have ignored, or gotten over the fact that Lucy would invariably end up in some various states of undress either at the beginning, middle, or end of a mission. Ending up naked, was never Lucy’s intention, honestly Erza was sure Lucy hated that this regularly seemed to happen. What Lucy didn’t know is that lately, it had been bothering Erza more. You see; Erza had a bit of a crush on Lucy. If by crush, you meant an ever-present attraction that caused her to have occasional fantasy’s about what might happen if Erza just leaned in and kissed her on those many occasions the two ended up in tight and close situations. Therein lay the problem; Ezra had very much wanted to see if Natsu had been correct when he proclaimed after Lucy’s fall that he could ‘see everything’. Really, that was just what Erza wanted to do, see every bit of Lucy. However, with Natsu and Gray standing nearby, and the familiar and ever present frustration creeping up on her, she had simply closed her eyes, swung around grabbed Gray and tossed him toward the door, before punching Natsu in the eye. For the boys, the next few minutes while Lucy changed in her bathroom had been very strained, and as always when the two were nervous they began arguing. Meanwhile, Erza quickly turned her embarrassment into fury. The ensuing argument with Lucy had made her realize, once again, that the Celestial Mage would never see her as anything other than a frightening brute. A sigh escaped her lips as she rested her head against her fist, eyes staring out the window without really taking in the scenery. It was all so very vexing; she glanced over at Lucy, who slept next to her peacefully a smile on her lips now. Closing her eyes, she tried very hard not to think about Lucy and how she still smelled faintly of the perfume she wore the other evening when she’d fallen asleep next to Erza while reading.

“You know; you should probably just ask her out.” Erza jumped, her eyes snapping open as Gray spoke. She recovered quickly schooling her face into the stoic calmness she generally presented to friends and associates alike.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Her eyes, however, slid away from looking directly into Gray’s, the fingers of the hand currently not propping up her chin, drumming on her thigh.

“Cut the crap Erza, you know what I’m talking about, hell Natsu probably knows what I’m talking about.”

“What are you talking about?” asked Happy, who currently had a half-eaten fish in his paws. Natsu made a horrible gurgling sound as he slid off his seat between the cat and ice mage. His little blue friend sighed and patted his back while still looking curiously at Gray and Erza. “Are you talking about how Erza wants to be Lucy’s special friend?” his face had that extremely mischievous look on it once more. It. However, quickly changed to horror when Erza’s gaze turned murderous and aimed directly at him. Gray would have laughed, had he not been so utterly frightened of Erza turning her glare in his direction.

“H-hey Erza, calm down there… we know you have a thing for her. Nobodies making fun of your feelings, just trying to help you sort them out.”

“I don’t need help; I’m perfectly capable of not acting on them.” Turning her head away from them once again, and staring intentionally out the window, she hoped that her friends would get the message and end the conversation. Of course, they did no such thing.

“You should just tell her, I’m pretty sure she’d at least go out on a date with you; I mean I think she actually wants you to ask her.” The black-haired mage turned slightly in his seat near the window to look meaningfully at the sleeping Lucy, who seemed to be completely unaware that her friends were discussing her would be love life.

“Gray, I do not want, or need your advice when it comes to who I am attracted to and what I do about my love interests. Now drop the conversation.” There was a hint of menace in her voice as she spoke. Gray raised his hands in a placating gesture, and would have backed away, if he had not been sitting down. Happy remained silent sensing that if he spoke, it would remind Erza of what he had said, and she might perhaps punish his misbehavior. He shuddered to think about what his punishment might be for teasing Erza, and resumed eating his fish.  
The hours seemed to drag by, and all the occupants of their small compartment, save Lucy, who continued to sleep, were relieved when they arrived at their destination. Gray stretched, and grabbed his and Natsu’s travel sacks and throwing them over one shoulder, before giving Happy a hand with the still incapacitated Natsu. They exited into the hallway, which left Erza with the task of waking Lucy. Great, another opportunity to scare the object of her affection, she sighed and gently shook the blonde girl.   
  
“Lucy, we have arrived.” No response, typical Lucy, she often slept heavily, which was why she so often ended up sleeping on Erza’s couch when they read together. “Lucy, please it’s time to-” groaning and rubbing at her eye Lucy looked up at Erza sleepily. 

“Seriously? We’re already here? I could have sworn I just fell asleep a few minutes ago.” 

“You’ve actually slept for five hours; I’m surprised you aren’t hungry yet since we didn’t stop for breakfast.” At that Erza’s stomach growled loudly, and she could feel the color coming to her cheeks. Lucy tilted her head, and she laughed, suddenly wrapping her arms around Erza’s waist and pulling her close for a hug while she still sat smiling in her seat. That smile, however, was replaced by a grimace of agony as her head smacked painfully into the armor protecting Erza’s torso. Instantly, Erza pushed her away and dropped to her knees examining the blonde, whose eyes were now leaking tears of pain. Gloves, and armor vanishing suddenly as she reequipped into the clothes she normally wore under her the heavy metal plate, examining the newly swelling bump on Lucy’s forehead. “Why on earth did you do that?” her voice sounded frantic to her own ears; she was sure that Lucy would be fine; it was such a minor injury. However, she hated to think that she and the armor she always wore had caused this.   
  
“Erza, I’ll be fine, OW!” she winced as the bump on her forehead was poked. Erza stared hard at Lucy, dissatisfied with her answer. Looking sheepish now, the blonde, sighed and glanced sideways as she spoke once more. “It’s just; it was funny you know; you can be amusing and it kind of made me feel good. So I wanted to hug you, that’s all.” Red cheeks and eyes that refused to meet her own gave Erza pause, her hand still resting on Lucy’s forehead slid down to stroke her cheek, unaware that she was at the moment gently caressing the blonde girls face. Or that Lucy relaxed into the touch, her eyes meeting Erza’s.

“I just don’t like it when you get hurt.” The caressing continued, and Erza had only realized that she was, in fact, being quite intimate with the woman she was intensely attracted to. Lucy didn’t seem to be pulling away now; actually, she seemed to like how Erza was touching her face. Swallowing, and steeling herself Erza leaned forward, and she thought or hoped that she had seen Lucy incline her head as well. They were so close; their lips were almost touching; Erza closed her eyes and whispered; “You’re always getting hurt when we take jobs, I really wish you’d be more careful.” In an instant, she felt Lucy pull away; her eyes were streaming more now as the blonde abruptly stood up unbalancing Erza. 

"Oh really? I'm too clumsy to go on jobs with you three is that it?" she sounded furious, and Erza was dumbstruck about what had so suddenly changed the mood.

"No! I just mean you often end up hurt, or naked, or…" her voice faltered and died, as Lucy turned and exited the compartment, leaving Erza alone.

 --

The slow, dreary, and utterly muggy trek to the mirrored the ugly resentment bubbling inside of Erza as she stared at the trail ahead. "Another brilliant strike out for the brute in armor." The angry thoughts about everything that had gone wrong in the compartment just kept replaying in her mind. Of course Lucy had not wanted to kiss her, the more likely reason she had leaned towards Erza involved the injury she had received, and not contrary to Gray's insane theory, that Lucy was even remotely interested in her. Glancing over her shoulder at the celestial mage in question she saw, to her deepest regret, that the blonde was glaring daggers at her. She turned, unwilling to show any sort of emotional response to such obvious hostility. Fine, if Erza was making Lucy uncomfortable she would stop bothering her all together outside of missions.

"I'm starving!" Natsu griped, his posture expressing how utterly put out he was at the situation. "When do we even get to this spook village?" the dry crunch of the dirty beneath their feet, and the thickness of the air itself did nothing to help ease everyone's discomfort. Natsu was in fact, the only one honest enough to talk about how he felt about the messy affair.

"According to the map it's just around that bend up ahead." Of course she had no need of the physical map, committing such things to memory had long ago become a habit. The sound of Natsu coming up fast behind her made her turn once more as the young dragon slayer yelled.

"Well what are we waiting for? Pick up the pace you slow pokes!" and with a cloud of dust and Happy's energetic cry of ‘Aye!' the two were gone.

"So much for going in together." Gray had eased up next to Erza, and had once again taken off all his clothing. Erza could hardly blame the Ice Wizard; this amount of heat would make even the most prudish want to strip down to nothing but their undergarments. Gray however, never seemed to notice that he always did this, even at the most inopportune times, such as when they were about to arrive at a new job.

"Gray, you're naked again."

"What? Damn it!" he hurriedly began to search for clothing along the roadside. With luck, he wouldn't have left them too far back. His departure, however, left Erza with the problem of finishing the last part of the journey, alone, with Lucy. They walked in complete silence, the scraping of their shoes on the dry earth the only sound either woman seemed to want to exchange. They came closer, and closer to the bend in the road, and Erza glancing back once more at the silent Lucy, decided then and there that she had to at least say something to end the animosity that hung as thick as the heat of the day around them.

"I didn't mean to hurt you on the train, and…" here she paused, this would be a tough confession and an end to the vain hope she held of ever being with her friend romantically. Swallowing hard, she pushed on, and her voice thankfully remained steady. "In addition would also like to say how very sorry I am that I mistook your trust for invitation, and tried to kiss you. I now understand how mistaken I truly was in believing that it was something that you wanted as well." There, it was out in the open now; she exhaled heavily as if she had run a great distance bracing for the fallout that was sure to come.

"Wait…you tried to kiss me back there on the train?" Erza stopped and turned, her face for once, betraying her discomfort as she nodded. It was even worse than she had suspected, Lucy had no idea that Erza had even tried to kiss her, and thus was angry at her for some other inextricable reason.

"Ah…I see. You did not realize. I am doubly sorry then as I have effectively tried to take advantage of a friend when they were weak." She turned around again to continue their journey, unable to meet Lucy’s eye due to shame and embarrassment. This day had gone from bad to horrendous rather quickly in her estimation. Suddenly she felt a tug on her hand, Lucy's slim fingers had slid through her own and were now holding tightly, seeming to ignore the hot metal gauntlet that encased it.

"No, um, I thought that I was the one trying to kiss you." Not believing that she had heard her friend correctly Erza faced her friend, who on closer inspection was obviously flustered.

"Wait, what did you say?" her face had suddenly become entirely too hot, not related in any way to the summer heat. Lucy seemed to gather up her courage to talk and opened her mouth several times, cheeks red, before she finally spoke once again.

"You were so close, and I figured I might as well try, and I thought maybe you might want to kiss me too. But then," at this her voice gained a slight edge "you had to start talking about how incompetent I am again. So I assumed I imagined it."

"No! I didn't—I mean you didn't—Lucy," she took a deep breath. "Are you saying, I mean, am I right in assuming, that you think I am attractive?" her voice cracked, and she hoped that she still retained the cool air of stoicism she usually exuded.

"Well yeah, I do Erza. So I hope it's okay to assume that the feeling is mu-" Lucy didn't get to finish that sentence as Erza had swiftly grabbed her at the words ‘I do 'and pulled her close, her lips soon pressed against Lucy's own. The heat of the day no longer seemed oppressive. If anyone had asked Erza at that very moment about the weather, she would have replied after several minutes of wistful reminiscence, that the weather and the day were simply gorgeous.

It seemed as if the kiss lasted for hours; it might have been closer to five or ten minutes, it was sadly not to last as Happy chose that exact moment to come flying full speed, holding Natsu by the arms and in his surprise crashing directly into the two oblivious women.

That's how Gray found the lot of them several minutes later; all four sprawled on the ground looking as if they'd been run over by one of those fancy magic powered cars.

"What happened?" he asked while pulling his pants on and walking towards them his eyebrows high in astonishment. Natsu groaned and held his head wincing.

"Happy and me were coming back to get you guys, and crashed into Erza and Lucy. I don't know why they were just standing in the middle of the road like that." He turned to look down at Happy who looked absolutely terrified, trembling from the tips of his small blue ears to his tiny feet. Natsu poked him several times in the side, receiving no response. "Hey little buddy what's wrong? Cat got your tongue? HA cat!" he grinned, finding his own joke quite clever. Happy on the other hand, only had eyes for Erza, who was now helping Lucy up while glaring with murderous intent at him and Natsu.

"Erza's going to kill me!" he wailed as he dove to hide behind Natsu. Happy had seen it all before they crashed, it had in fact, been the reason he had lost control and collided head first into the girls.

"What? No she isn't! I mean look at her, does she look mad to…..you…" Natsu gulped, realizing, now that he had a proper look at her, that his friend did look like would indeed murder Happy and possibly himself as well. Erza seemed ready to tear the two into many small pieces. With a long-suffering sigh, Gray zipped his fly, and moved to stand between the Scarlet haired woman, and the petrified Natsu and Happy.

"Let's all settle down for now. Erza, I'm pretty sure Natsu interrupted you just now. Can it wait till after we've finished this job though? We're all hot, tired, and starving. When we're done you two can duke it out to your heart's content. Does that sound fair?" his reward was Erza stepping back and grabbing her and Lucy's bags.

"Fine, we'll help the villagers first, and then once we get back home Natsu and I are going to talk about invading other people's privacy."

"What privacy? You two were just standing around in the middle of the road!"

"Natsu, be quiet!" with surprise Natsu realized that Lucy was now the one reprimanding him. With a flip of her hair, she and Erza began walking away. Gray glanced down at Happy, who still trembled violently as Natsu picked him up.

"So what exactly did you see?" asked Gray, Happy's response was only to shake his head and cling to Natsu's back. Both boys looked puzzled at one another, and then shrugged simultaneously before running to catch up with the girls who were now farther ahead.

 --

Dust and a few stray weeds blew through the streets they now walked down. No one greeted them, though they looked around vainly in each grimy window and the dim entryway for any sign of life.

"You sure this is the right place Erza?" Gray voice echoed slightly down the seemingly deserted street.  Happy had yet to stop his shivering, and occasionally shot terrified glances at Erza and Lucy, who seemed to have mostly forgotten his existence do to the town's eerie empty streets.

"This is the correct village, though the lack of any sort of reception is puzzling." Light pulsed around Erza's hand and instantly a sword appeared in her grip. "Be sure to be ready for who, or whatever might be lurking around." At that very moment a door slammed open and a woman pointing a shotgun at the group materialized from the darkness. As if on cue windows and doors from other houses flew open, the occupants pointing assorted weapons at the wizards who were now neatly trapped. Erza swore, eyes darting around as she tried to find possible escape routes. There were, in fact several available paths they might choose to flee. In addition, the villagers, though determination showed on their faces, did not seem to know how to properly hold the weapons in their hands.

"State your business." Said a woman with graying hair, she alone seemed to know how to handle the weapon cocked expertly in her grip.

"We are wizards from Fairy Tail, here because someone in this village requested help in exorcising ghosts."

"Fairy Tail?" some people in the crowd murmured, looking either confused of downright terrified.

"I hear that every time they save a town or village they blow most of it to smithereens."

"I heard that they took out a train station, the train tracks, and the Guild Masters meeting hall."

"They aren't help! They're destroyers!!" some voices began to rise in panic. Their guild was notorious for breaking more than they ever truly fixed. With a sigh Erza made her sword disappear and held her empty palms up to show she meant no harm.

"You are the ones who sent the request to our guild hall, if you do not want help we can just return to the train station."

"Now wait just one minute," it was the woman who had initially spoken; she lowered her gun slightly but did not take her eyes off the mage. "I did send one of the job requests to Fairy Tail," Many people began to protest but she held up a hand and instantly silence fell over the group, it was clear to Erza and the others just who was in charge in this village. "They are a guild good at solving complicated problems and as long as they didn't send those four destructive idiots Salamander, Titania, Fullbuster, and that voyeur celestial mage, our town should survive hiring them on." She looked down at the mages who now seemed strangely uncomfortable. "Go on then, tell us who you are."

They five friends exchanged uneasy looks as Erza began to speak in a clear voice.

"My name is Erza Scarlet, and these are my companions Natsu Dragneel, Gray Fullbuster, and Lucy Heartfilia." Stunned silence descended over the assembled group as they all came to the sudden realization that their town was more than likely doomed.

"So you're telling me, that you are the four destructive idiots from Fairy Tail?"

"Five!" Happy piped in only to duck behind Natsu once more. The woman sighed heavily, and put a hand over her eyes.

"I guess we don't have much choice about accepting your help, do we?" gesturing for the surrounding villagers to lower her weapons she beckoned the travelers toward the doorway in which she stood. "Well, you'd best come inside, supper will be ready soon and we have much to discuss." With that she walked into the darkness beyond the doorway, the five Fairy Tail wizards following close behind.

After they had all eaten their fill, the head-woman, and a few other members of the village sat down with them to discuss what help the village needed.

"Every night, for the past 4 months people have slowly disappeared from their beds at night. At first we thought it was simply people who wished to leave the village and start anew in the city. It became clear, however, that fathers and mothers were also among those who had vanished. Now we are all that remain."

"Have you noticed any sort of pattern to the disappearances?" Erza sat with her arms crossed across from the head-woman, who now laughed bitterly.

"Oh yes, it started with people who lived near the village entry gates, and it has been slowly pushing those of us who remain closer to the forest behind us. Soon we will have to abandon the village entirely and try our luck in the woods." She sighed, "That is, however, only part of the problem. At night, if you go into those who have disappeared houses, you will see their ghosts walking around and continuing the tasks they were engaged in before they disappeared. As the night wears on, they invariably always end up screaming and pointing at something none of us can see before they fade from view at sunrise. If we are lucky no one else will have disappeared during the night, but we are rarely so fortunate."

"Well it looks like we'll be in for a long evening, so I suggest we all get some sleep while there is still daylight left. Madam Head-woman-"

"Clarice"

"Madam Clarice then, at what time do these ghosts begin to appear?"

"We start to hear them at around midnight, by the time three in the morning comes round we will see ghosts wandering through their former homes."

"Then we will reconvene at ten o'clock tonight and begin to see if we can solve your problem."

"I'll show you to your rooms." Said Clarice as she stood up from the table, and beckoned them once more.

"One room should easily fit us all; we wouldn't want to impose on the village's hospitality more than we already have."

"Nonsense, you travel in mixed company." At this she eyed Natsu and Gray with distrust. "I don't care what you people do while you are in your own homes, but while you stay in mine the men and women will sleep separately." Natsu blinked and looked at Lucy and Erza, then at the head-woman confused.

"Why would sleeping with Erza and Lucy be a problem? We always sleep together on missions."

"It's improper!"

"Sleeping with Lucy and Erza is improper?"

"YES!"

"Well that's just stupid!" he huffed and crossed his arms. "It's not like I want to kiss either of them, that'd be like kissing my sisters."

"That's beside the point!" Clarice was positively red and puffing. Natsu apparently got under her skin pretty easily. She walked them down a short hallway and pointed at two small rooms at the end. "This is unfortunately the best we can do for you, most of the villagers have evacuated to this side of town and the houses are filling up fast." Opening the doors to both rooms and stood, her foot tapping impatiently. "I'll leave as soon as I see that you four separate."

"Oh come on Lady!" Gray's voice sounded exasperated even to his own ears. "We're just going to bed!" but the head-woman would not be deterred and the four grudgingly separated and shut the doors to their prospective rooms.

Erza would have spoken up about the ridiculousness of the head-woman's request when it came to the four full grown adult wizards who were about to try to solve their village mystery. However, the thought of being forced to share a room with Lucy, so soon after they had kissed was causing her to panic. Panic coursed through her veins like ice water, and it did not help that the bed they were to share would barely fit two people comfortably together. Indeed, those two people would need to be perfectly fine with sleeping in very intimate circumstances.

"I'm not ready for this, not ready for this at all." She turned and saw Lucy staring at the bed as well, her eyes wide. They had slept together on many occasions, and while it was now clear that they both shared romantic inclinations towards one another, it began the make being a part of the same team complicated.

"Well, here we are. On a mission." The words left Lucy's lips with a slight quaver.        

"Yes, a mission!" Erza replied a bit over loud. Both women turned and looked at each other and laughed nervously. "Well, er, I will sleep on the floor." She glanced down at the hard wooden surface, and resigned herself to a sore awakening.

"No, I can sleep on the floor." Like Erza, Lucy looked less than thrilled at the prospect, but unwilling to suggest sharing a bed with Erza. They both eyed one another, nervous, and trying to ignore the bed, which now seemed to loom over them, daring the two to choose between confused and uncomfortable snuggling and sleeping on the floor.

"I think this is silly." Erza tried to steady her breathing as she turned requiping out of her armor into the clothing beneath. Her hands shook as she placed them on Lucy's shoulders, and spoke once more. "It’s close quarters, and now that we both know how we feel about one another…this is just a very uncomfortable situation. I do not want you to take this the wrong way Lucy, but I do not want to be physically intimate with you 3 hours after we first kissed." Lucy covered her mouth stifling a laugh as she looked into Erza's serious, and reddened, face.

"I'm not offended Erza, I actually…I have to agree. But I also think it's stupid for one of us to sleep on the floor. If we can both agree that sex," And Erza began to stammer at this until Lucy silenced her with a finger to her lips. "It's just a word Erza, you can call it whatever you like but if we can be adults here and just say it's out of the question I think we can also be adults and sleep in the same bed with no problem. Okay?" nodding slowly, the redhead lifted her hand and placed it on wrist of the one silencing her, tugging it away from her lips. They both nervously slid nervously into bed, Erza still holding on to Lucy's hand.  Smiling as they both tried to get comfortable on the small mattress, both women couldn't help but wonder how either would be able to sleep. Ten minutes later, still holding hands, both women drifted off to sleep due all the adrenaline they had needlessly wasted with nervousness.

 --

Screaming tore through the house, and Erza was on her feet sword and armor summoned to her hand and body, as she barreled out of the room into the narrow hallway. The head-woman was pointing at Natsu and Gray's room, the door ajar, as both young men stood arguing in the middle of the room. With a sigh of relief Erza, turned to Clarice and began to apologize.

"I'm sorry, they are always like this, I'll get them to stop in a moment." It was then Erza realized with horror that though it appeared that Natsu and Gray's argument had become more heated there was no sound in the room other than she and the head-woman's own breathing. Lucy crashed into her from behind, hand on her keys as she looked for the disturbance, and ignored the silent arguing duo.

"What is it? Who screamed?" Erza turned to the blonde mage now at her shoulder, and spoke voice hollow.

"It looks like the villages ghost problem, is now our own."

"What do you mean?" she sounded frightened as she peered at Natsu and Gray, wondering why they continued to fight each other so quietly while they all stood in the room.

"They have Natsu and Gray. Whoever is doing this just captured our friends. And before this night is over, we are going to find them and the villagers." Her voice steely with determination Erza grabbed Lucy by the arm and pulled her out of the room. "Stay close to me. I will not lose you tonight as well." This should have made Lucy feel better, but she couldn't help but feel some irritation. Erza was doing it again, treating her as if she wouldn't be able to hold her own on this mission; it was just as vexing now as it had been before they kissed.

"We'll find them together Erza. Together." She'd get Erza to accept her as an equal, well at least as a competent mage. That was a start at least.

 

**Author's Note:**

> This is my second fan-fiction, I usually on do fan-comics so suggestions and constructive criticism are appreciated just please don't rip me a new one I'm sensitive.


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